


I'm Not Sick of You Yet

by cupsofstardust



Category: Final Fantasy VII Remake (Video Game 2020)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Friendship, Gen, Kinda, Missing Scene, whatever
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-13
Updated: 2021-02-13
Packaged: 2021-03-12 23:19:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 530
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29392560
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cupsofstardust/pseuds/cupsofstardust
Summary: Of course her mother doesn't like Cloud. Aerith didn't think she would.
Relationships: Aerith Gainsborough & Cloud Strife
Comments: 2
Kudos: 11





	I'm Not Sick of You Yet

**Author's Note:**

> LOVE just doing whatever the hell I want to thank you so much <3

It should be awkward.

Elmyra Gainsborough would make a decent actress.

"Before we sit down—" she says, stopping Aerith in her tracks. "I want you to make up the guest room."

She turns on her heel to head for the stairs instead. She'd made up the guest bedroom this morning. Gut feeling. "Gotcha!" she says easily, then she turns to Cloud, walking backwards for a moment. "Take a load off, okay?"

Aerith spins and starts up the stairs, eyes firmly in front of her. Something's going to happen, she knows it. Not in the way she knows _other_ things, but in the way she knows her mother.

Sure enough, when she reaches the landing her mother's voice filters up the stairs. Aerith opens the door to the guest room and stops in the doorway, listening.

"Judging by those eyes, I'm guessing you're a SOLDIER," her mother says.

 _"Ex-_ SOLDIER," Cloud corrects, in a way that suggests he does it too often.

"I hate to ask... but would you leave tonight? Without any fuss—no questions?" When he says nothing she continues. "You boys made a trade—a normal life for power. You can't have it both ways."

Aerith grips the doorknob tighter. There's no response, and after another moment she releases the doorknob and schools her expression before heading back downstairs.

"I'm back!"

"Good!" her mother says. "Now, I hope you're hungry."

Aerith places a hand on her stomach and turns to Cloud. "Starving. Right?"

He doesn't respond. He just watches her mother, his lips pressed together and his brow furrowed, and she glances between them. Of course her mother doesn't like Cloud. Aerith didn't think she would.

He was a SOLDIER. She has a... rough history with SOLDIERs. And with the Turks, and Shinra... she doesn't blame her mother.

But that doesn't mean her mother should blame Cloud.

Dinner is an awkward affair. Cloud says nothing and eats little more than that and before she knows it he's pushing away from the table and excusing himself.

"Long day of mercenary work," Aerith explains. "I'm pretty beat too. Thanks for dinner, it was delicious."

The guest room is silent when she reaches the landing, the only sounds the clacking of dishes as her mom washes up. While she waits, she listens, her door cracked open just slightly. Cloud is quiet, her mother less so, so when she hears a door open downstairs she takes the opportunity to go up.

The balcony is far from the ground, but Aerith's jumped it before. Her stomach swoops and her knees buckle for a moment but she's fine. No worse for wear. She needs to hurry now; Cloud will be leaving soon. It's gotten dark out.

The slums look different at night, with the children gone and the music silenced and the streets near empty save the few stumbling home from an evening in Wall Market.

Aerith knows her mother has probably told Cloud to never see her again.

She never told Aerith not to see _him_ again. Her first mistake.

At the entrance of the Sector 5 slums, Aerith tucks herself into a corner between two pipes, and she sits, and she waits.

**Author's Note:**

> I have a couple ideas in my little brain about how she gets there before him and I've been wanting to write them for a while so there's this one. and maybe I'll write the other one too like just for funsies or whatever
> 
> This is also me like trying to get a feel for these characters because I _will_ be writing them. A lot probably. I've played FF7R like three times since christmas ://
> 
> Hope you liked it, short as it is! Comments and kudos are nice, thank you <3
> 
> [My Twitter!](https://twitter.com/tifaIoveheart)


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